James w



(No Model.)

J. W. JONES.

SCREW DRIVER.

,055. Patented Mar. l, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES IV. JONES, OF BELFAST, MAINE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FRANK A. IIOIVARD, OF SAME PLACE.

SCREW-DRIVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 470,055, dated March 1, 1892.

Application Aiea May 16, 1891.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES W. JONES, a citizen ofthe United States, residing at Belfast, in the county of Waldo and State of Maine, have invented certain Improvements in Screw- Drivers, of which the following isa full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side view of a screw-driver constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section of the same. Fig. 3 is a section on the line x x of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of one of the rotary nuts by which the spindle or bit is revolved when pressed into the handle.

My invention relates to that class of screwdrivers having a spirally-grooved spindle or bit adapted to be rotated when pressed into the handle bymeans of a horizontally-sliding rotary nut, 'which when said spindle is to be revolved is caused to engage with a clutch or stop by which it is locked and held stationary, said nut being disengaged from the clutch and permitted to rotate within its chamber while the spindle is being drawn out or eX- tended for the next operation. To provide a simple and reliable screw-driver of this description in which the direction of motion of the spirally-grooved spindle or bit can be easily reversed to enable it to either drive or back out a screw is the object of my invention, which consists in a screw-driver provided with a tubular socket secured to a toolhandle and having two separate and independent chambers and a spindle or bit having right and left hand intersecting spiral grooves, in combination with two rotary longitudinally-sliding nuts adapted to iit the right and left hand grooves of the spindle and placed within the two chambers of the socket, and a double catch having projections at its opposite ends adapted to enter said chambers and engage with one or the other of said nuts to lock the same, as hereinafter more particularly set forth.

In the said drawings,Arepresents the handle of the screw-driver, which is formed hollow nearly its entire length to receive the spindle B, which is provided with right and Serial No. 393,011. (No model.)

left hand spiral grooves ci b, intersecting each other, as shown, the outer end of said spindle B being made wedge-shaped to lform the screwdriving bit.

D is a tubular metallic socket or sleeve, which is immovably secured to the handle A to prevent it from turning therein when the screw-driver is inl use. The outer end of the socket D is screwthreaded in its interior to receive a correspondingly-threaded cap E, 6o having a shoulder o', which rests upon the end of the socket, making a Hush-joint, said cap having a central aperture through which the spirally-grooved spindle B is free to slide. Vithin the sock'etD areimmovablysccured, 65 by driving them into place or in any other suitable manner, two collars or bushing c d,

through which the spindle is free to slide and by means of which and the cap E it is supported axially within the tubular socket. 7o The bushings c (l divide the front portion of the socket D into two separate and independent chambers e f, within which are placed two rotary nuts G II, which are free to slide ashort distance longitudinally within said chambers, said nuts being each provided at the rear end with angular teeth or projections g g, as seen in Figs. 3 and 4, which are adapted to engage with a stop or clutch, to be hereinafter described,whereby the spindle or bit is 8o rotated in either direction to turn or drive a screw or back it out, as may be desired. The right-hand or inner nut G, which its the righthand spiral groove d of the spindle, is placed within the inner chamber e and is free to slide' 8 5 therein between the bushings c d, the latter limiting the inward movement of the nut, while the left-hand or outer nut H, which ts the left-hand spiral groove b of the spindle,is free to slide in the outer chamber f between 9o the bushing c and the cap E, which limits its movementin that direction. To the inner end of the spindle B is secured a stop-Washer, (not shown,) which is adapted to come into contact with the inner bushing d, and thus prevent the spindle from being pulled out of the socket D. Upon the outside of the socket D is iitted a tubular slide I, having two longitudinal slots 7e 7c diametrically opposite each other, and encircling the slide I at its center is a ring m, Ioo

riveted securely thereto, so as move therewith as it is pushed up or down upon the socket D by the hand. I'Vithin each ot the slots 7c 7c is fitted a rocker lever or catch L, the under con- Vex side of which rests upon the socket D, as seen in Fig. 2. At each end of this rocker is a tongue or projection a, which is adapted to pass through an aperture p into the nut-chamber immediately thereunder when that end of the catch is rocked inward by moving the slide I and ring m up or down,the outer surface of the catch being convex in the direction of its length, so that a movement of the ring m in either direction will force one of the projections k of each catch into one chamber of the socket D and simultaneously withdraw the projection 7n at the opposite end of each catch from the other chamber of the said socket D. The projections n, when within one or the other of the chambers c f, form stops or clutches, with which engage the angular teeth g g of the rotary nut in said chamber, when said nut is slid backward by the action of the spindle as the latter commences to be forced inward after having been extended and its outer end inserted into the nick of the screw to be driven. The length of each chamber efis equal to the length of the nut, including its projections or teeth g, plus the length of the tongue or projection n of the rocking catch, so that whichever nut is locked stationary it may have sufficient space to recede out of engagement with the clutch when the spindle is drawn outward and again advance to engage the clutch when the spindle first commences to be forced inward for the purpose of rotating it in the same manner as in the single-acting screw-driver of this description as heretofore constructed.

In operating the above described screwdriver when it is desired to drive a screw the slide I is moved toward the outer end of the socket D into the position seen in Fig. 2, which causes the projection n at the outer end of each of the rockers L to be projected through its aperture p into the outer cham berf, thus forming a clutch for the outer or left-hand nut H, which, when the spindle, af-

ter being extended, is forced inward by pressure upon the handle, engages said clutch, thus causing the spindle to be rotated in the desired direction to turn in or drive a screw. This movement of the rocker L simultaneously withdraws the projections n at the inner ends of the rocker L from the innerchamber e, thus releasing the right-hand nut G and permitting it to rotate freely around the spindle while the latter is being rotated by the other nut II to drive the screw. Vhen it is desired to withdraw or back out a screw, the

slide I is moved inward toward the handle A, when the projections n at the inner ends of the rockers will be forced into the inner chambere and the opposite projections n withdrawn from the chamber f. rlhis releases the nut II and causes the right-hand nut G t0 be brou ghtinto use,when an inward pressure upon the extended spindle will cause it to be rotated in the proper direction to withdraw or back out a screw, and in this manner either nut can bc readily brought into use, as desired. IVhen the parts are adjusted for the spindle to back out a screw, it may be used as an ordinary screw-driver to turn a screw in, and when the parts are adjusted for the spindle to drive or turn a screw in it can be used as an ordinary screw-driver to back a screw out, thus rendering the tool very convenient under all circumstances.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is"

l. In a reversible screw-driver, a tubular socket secured to a tool-handle and having two separate and independent chambers and a spindle or bit having right and left hand intersecting spiral grooves, in combination with two rotary longitudinally-sliding nuts adapted to fit the right and left hand grooves, respectively, of the spindle and placed within the two chambers of the socket, anda double catch having projections at its opposite ends adapted to enter said chambers and engage one or the other of said nuts to lock the same, whereby the spindle is rotated in eitherdirection as it is forced backward into the handle, substantially as set forth.

2. In a reversible screw-driver, the tubular socket D, secured to the tool-handle and having two separate chambers ef, the screw-cap E, and the collars or bushings c (l, combined with the spindle B, provided with intersecting right and left hand spiral grooves, the right and left hand rotary longitudinallysliding nuts G Il, placed within the chambers e f and having the angular teeth or projections g g, the rocking levers or catches L L, having tongues or projections at their opposite ends adapted to pass through apertures into the nut-chambers ef, and the slide I, with its ring m, adapted to actuate the rocking catches L L, whereby either nut G or H may be locked or brought into use to rotate the spindle, substantially as set forth.

fitness my hand this 9th day of May, A. D. 1891.

JAMES \V. JONES.

ln presence of- R. P. DUN'roN, F. A. HOWARD.

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